1.20 lakh women suffer from breast cancer

Around 1.20 lakh women have been suffering from breast cancer in the country, but the tendency to keep the disease a secret allows the cancer to spread, they said, adding that it is curable if detected at early stage.

They also urged the media to play a major role in raising awareness among women through different programmes, such as campaign on television.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission and the Bangladesh Forum of Journalists for Women and Children Affairs jointly organised the roundtable titled 'Role of the Media in Breast Cancer Awareness' in the city as part of the Mission's month-long awareness programme.

Presenting a keynote paper, Vice-President of the Forum Nasrin Nisir said government and private hospitals should make concerted efforts to provide better treatment facilities for the patients with breast cancer.

Lack of awareness and treatment facilities in the country compels many patients to go abroad, she said, adding that they spend a huge amount of foreign currency.

Prof M A Hai, director of Ahsania Mission Cancer Hospital, stressed the need for registration of cancer patients in different hospitals and clinics.

Raising awareness is a must to protect women from breast cancer, he said, adding that if the breast cancer is detected at an early stage, the survival rate is 98 percent in America.

Chief Advisor of ATN Bangla Saiful Bari, President of Dhaka Reporters' Unity M Shafiqul Karim, Regional Fellowship Officer of WHO-New Delhi Dr M Khalilullah and Director of National Cancer Institute Dr Shafiul Alam also spoke at the roundtable moderated by Ahsania Mission President Kazi Rafiqul Alam.